About PREQUEL

PREQUEL is a story on the internet. It has been called several other things too, including “Making A Cat Cry: The Adventure“, “Everything Is A Federal Fucking Issue And Also Trying To Make You Miserable“, “Katia Managan: Alcoholic, Vasilikphobe, Adventurer“, and “Slutcat Adventures 2: Daggerfall“. All of these names are equally descriptive and accurate.

More specifically, PREQUEL is an interactive story where readers serve as the protagonist’s subconscious. It was inspired by the user command model employed by MS Paint Adventures and is based on the Elder Scrolls universe created by Bethesda Softworks, though familiarity with either of these is not necessary to understand PREQUEL. PREQUEL began as a forum thread on the MS Paint Adventures Forums, but has since been moved to its own site for readability (you are reading that site right now).

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy reading my story about an alcoholic cat who hears internet voices.

That is a sentence I never thought I would type.

Crazy-8

Kazerad, I would just like to say “Thank you” for making my fantasy about a slutty Kahjiit mage, a reality. Truly this is all that I could have wanted and mode

Gotta say, Kaz, I’ve been silent up ’til now, watching the story and seeing how it all panned out. I can’t be silent anymore.
I have been thoroughly entertained the entire way through and want more. You can bet that I’ll be contributing in the forums from time to time.

I’m curious: has anyone added Katia into Oblivion yet? Or are we all waiting to discover her fate first?

Legends12

i can’t speek for others, but yeup i’m waiting for the conclusion…

Skunk

It took 2 years to get 3 days in the story. It is safe to say the story of katia’s life will be a constant companion throug our own lives

Ralof

What if she’s already in the game, just where you never bothered to look?

Jenny

She is in Skyrim for sure 🙂 I have her as a companion! 🙂 She is scared of Draugr

trisk

Yeah, I’ve been playing as Katia, appearance of the character doesn’t do her much justice ( http://prntscr.com/1zbo47 Not to mention inaccurate, but Khajiit heads without hairstyles look pretty funky in Oblivion… Got the face with at least a fraction of her cute though by using the Meiko’s cute khajiit save file face thing) and i haven’t gotten far in the game yet but trying to stick with the character stuff, being terrified of royalty (the beginning was especially hilarious imagining how she’d flip the fuck out meeting Uriel and Martin), and, y’know, mostly using destruction magic, doing the mage’s guild thing, maxing out Quilly as soon as i got to Anvil and considering the sign to Lelle’s Quality Mercandise with profound shame and occasionally chugging a cheap wine and running around naked; no pineapples though unfortunately….

Matt

The bookmark icon is a pineapple… I see what you did thar.

Halbean

Well, time to stop lurking and start speaking up! This story has honestly brightened a lot of my days, and I’m glad to see it continue to grow and develop. The humor never fails to make me laugh! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this and perhaps contribute to it as well. Thanks a lot~! :3

+Subscribed

Skufer

I simply love this comic, the drawing style charming and Katia is adorable! I look forward to every new instalment. You should add a donate button to the site Kaz, you deserve love and money 🙂

Felidire

I was thinking the same thing. I mean, why donate to save the lives of starving children, or help abate breast cancer, when you can give all your spare money to the author of your favourte slutty-online-cat! 😀

Sarcasm not intended, btw. I was being totally serious. xP

Felidire

..That ‘big grin’ icon totally gives off the wrong message. >_>;

somebody

Wow you’re a stupid fucking homestuck fanshit directly ripping off bits and pieces of it instead of doing something original. Go kill yourself. You’re not even doing it properly on top of that, so double emphasis on kill yourself.

The only thing worse than a shitty story is a shitty story with all its creative elements effectively ripped from a more successful source. Yours is the latter. The only people who give a shit are other fantards who don’t realize that copying homestuck in virtually every respect is not cool or amazing.

Kazerad

Don’t forget I’m ripping off the Elder Scrolls too, and that a lot of my readership also comes from fantards who don’t realize that copying Oblivion in virtually every respect is not cool or amazing.

GrymZero

Snark…reaching…impossible…levels!

But seriously, as one of said ‘fantards’, I love the comic…and Somebody is just trolling

ErrorlessVector

I prefer to think of myself as a ‘Scrolly’.

Kire

I… Think I love you.

Also, where did you find such an amazing hammer of troll smiting?

Zerithos

You don’t want to know how many people rip off Homestuck. Don’t get me wrong, I look at new posts on Homestuck, too.

Plus, aren’t you SUPPOSED to build off of other things and make them better?

Kharn V’endrall

if you didn’t build off of other things and make them better, things would have gone along the lines of

“I figured out a way to set this guy’s broken arm so that it heals AND IF ANY FUCKER DARES TRY TO FIND A BETTER WAY I SWEAR I WILL COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND PUNCH YOUR FACE, thank you”

Thedudewhodisagreesandagrees

Yeah, fuck you too. Just because Kaz is ripping off Elder Scrolls, you come here to complain. Lemme say something to you, “pal”, wrong place. Kaz ripping off Elder Scrolls doesn’t make this story any less good.

Arper Le’Flarpeiti Darper

Well, let’s look at a bit from the “about” page, shall we?

“…PREQUEL began as a forum thread on the MS Paint Adventures Forums…”

I think this implies something or another about inspiration from a certain source material, don’t you think? And it’s hardly appropriate to tell someone that they should kill themselves just because they borrowed elements from said source material, especially if its encouraged in such a manner. Asshole.

buttbuttbutt

First, let me preface this by saying I’m a long time reader, half-fan.

“I think this implies something or another about inspiration from a certain source material, don’t you think?”
Inspiration is not the same thing as directly ripping bits from MSPA.
While I DO enjoy the story and it’s originality, there are moments where Kazerad rips so directly from MSPA that I can’t help but sigh in disappointment.

If anything, the only elements I can call inspiration are the Elder Scrolls setting and the user command setup. The story itself seems original enough, but the frequent gag-copying from MSPA is just so… ugh-worthy.

Kharn V’endrall

The same reasoning here is however that, its essentially a template, a way to do things, almost by this point, a genre in itself. You don’t fault mathematicians for using formulas created by their predecessors as a means to solve a problem. No one faults you for typing words standardized by (most popularly) Webster’s Dictionary. No one faults you for using whatever style, brand, and make computer, pencil, or vehicle to convey your information just because someone else used it first.

Take into consideration, Rougelike games were termed off the same game that started the genre, Rouge
Rougelikes use perma-death, turn based movement, and level randomization as a template that almost every Rougelike will have.

This, could be considered MSPAlike in comparison, using the unique archival system, yet driven by a reader influenced fanfiction via Bethesda’s world that they made.

Dan1

I mean look at Hollywood. it’s their job to rip things directly off of each other and look how much money they get each year. MILLIONS!!!!! that’s life. taking old templates rearranging them and seeing if it goes anywhere. so far Kaz has done a good job of setting a new story in a familiar world (for ES players) and successfully using a user interface model that although not original is still beyond most writers capability.
keep going. this is the first online story that has piqued my interest for more than one day.

Seth

dude its a good story chill.

Kali

hey i’m kali, homestuck musician who made upward movement and valhalla. i really really love this, and as a matter of fact, i’d love to be involved! i don’t want payment or anything, but if you’d like me to make any music, i’d be more than happy to! i left my e-mail on this comment so you can talk to me there. keep it up, this is probably my favorite thing ever! (:

Kazerad

Thank you, glad to hear you’re enjoying it!

I’ve mostly got music covered for now, though. I’ll keep your offer in mind if I ever need more musicians!

I’m in the same boat as Kali, I produce music in my spare time. I’m a college student majoring in music and audio engineering. Just ask, and I’ll help out with nothing short of the GREATEST ENTHUSIASM.

Pumpkins

I’m a musician three, but I have really shitty recording equipment. I invented the distortion piano.

BobisOnlyBob

Kazerad,

I’ve been following bits and pieces of your work across the MSPAForums for a while now. Back in the “Open MSPaint Close Eyes Draw Nepeta” thread, you took my mad scribble and made Nepeta Eating a Cookie. It was the best thing ever. In the same thread, you also made Halfnepetakind, and wrote a very tragic and sad story about it. I am not an easily moved man and you nearly tore me apart with that.

If PREQUEL can inspire the emotions of those individual things, and entwine them well (and so far it looks like it had and will continue to), I can only wish you the best of luck and I can’t wait to read every last update.

Just another MSPA fan,

Bob

PS. I am totally torn on whether I want this to go into fanservicey territory or not. On one hand I just want to hug Katia and make her feel better about everything, and on the other hand I am REALLY curious about how the yo-yo factors into things. Or what yo-yos are doing in Cyrodiil anyway. Please continue to walk the tightrope of balancing cute and sexy to the frustration of nerds everywhere!

Up until two days ago I had a problem. Although I had plenty of webcomics that I followed, I hadn’t found anything new for months. That was until I saw an article on FurryNewsNetwork.com It was a small, quick article. I’ll be honest, although the interactive part piqued my interest, the art didn’t look very good. Sooooooo I decided to check it out. As I read the first few pages I thought this would be a distraction for an hour before I went to bed. The next thing I remember was looking at my computer clock and it was 3:30 in the morning. This is one of the most hilarious, and most heart wrenching comics I’ve read. Although I have read comics that are more emotionally involved (Although I can forgive that in this comic as it has only been out for a few months) I have never found a comic that has brought me into the story, and made me KNOW and CARE about a character this fast. Katia is sad, yet hopeful. Scared yet brave. Meek yet powerful. (And cute yet sexy =D) This is a great piece of story telling that I will follow, and not soon forget!

Exactly the same happened to me RIGHT NOW. Only that it’s now 4:10pm. And I totally second everything what you say.

Dihydrogenmonoxide

I did the same thing. I was looking at pictures of random Kahjiit, because all 7 of my Skyrim/Oblivion characters are as well and I saw the picture of Katia trying on the mage’s robe, so I followed the link and read from the beginning to the end all in one go. Can’t wait for the next post.

Yep same. Scrollin tumblr and saw this like oh that looks cool. Finished it like fromt to end. Then I sent a frame to my friends who were like where is this from?
Sent the link. Its awesome.

Wind

I am in awe of your awesomeness. O.o Thank you for creating the embodiment of every Oblivion file I make. 😀

Chris McKenna

This is possibly one of the most entertaining “webcomics” I’ve ever read. The built humour and dynamics between the fans reading and the actual characters in the story is simply amazing. It’s like being part of the in jokes of a bunch of friends, except fireballs and adorable felines.

Dammnit, I have to open the cafe in an hour and haven’t slept.
Totally!
WORTH IT!

Jebediah Oldenheimer

“Slutcat Adventures 2: Daggerfall“
Oh God.
Yeah, you definitely should change the name to this. This is the best, most accurate title.

Scow2

That would be the prequel to Prequel.

Monterrey

Bloody good, mate.
Plenty bloody good.

dan

I just found this a few days ago and I love it. I was so caught up in the story that I actually got angry at some parts.

Good job and Katia is adorable!

Norexicu

This comic is so influential and good that it motivated me to play TES:Morrowind again without cheating. And in the original Xbox, for crying out loud (poor guy here, no money for the 360 :'( ).

Thanks for that. I also can say with all confidence that this comic is the best the Internet has ever witnessed.

And it’s just the beginning.

Naes Draw

Very neat. Subscribed, and look forward to seeing more of this. Also, installing Morrowind right now, darn you. Xp

Grey Acumen

The difference between a ripoff and a homage, lies purely in the quality of execution. This is unquestionably a homage.

I love Homestuck as a stylized webcomic, but it doesn’t really retain the sense of it really being community driven,(whether it is or not is beside the point) and both it and Problem Sleuth were ridiculously convoluted and illogical to the extent that it almost seemed pointless to attempt to make any rationally thought out suggestions.(and Problem Sleuth also SEEMED to toss out the community driven nature towards the very end)
Ruby Quest is probably the next most well known community driven game/comic, even if only as a cult following, at least that I’m aware of, and though it was more thoroughly entrenched in the community involvement and only made use of rails to move the story along in some aspects, it still retained a similar brand of abstract logic that problem sleuth uses, and the artwork left a great deal to be desired.

After reading through to this point in the series, PREQUEL has demonstrated a very strong sense of being community driven, rails apparently only being used in conjunction with specific character traits, such as Katia’s alcoholism and outside circumstances. The story itself manages to be refreshingly concrete and straightforward while still throwing some surprise twists in, possibly directly tied to using Elder Scrolls as its base setting to draw from, which sets it completely apart from all of the other community driven comics I’ve mentioned already. The artwork is also very enjoyable, all the characters have been extremely vibrant, and even the antagonists have attitudes that you can’t help both laughing at and still begrudgingly respecting. Thus far the content manages to allude to mature situations without actually going into graphic sexual detail, which I personally find more enjoyable than directly depicting those activities (leaves something to the audience imagination while maintaining a PG-13ish rating)
The final bit of garnish is the quality of the heroine of the story herself; Katia. She has an absolutely horrible lot in life, and it never seems to get any better for her without something even more horrible coming in and ruining things, but she still manages to keep trudging onward. I find myself actually looking forward to the next point at which circumstances turn against her and strip away nearly all the progress she had made simply because that is where her character shines the brightest. So many heroes in stories only succeed because they are all but given everything they need, the choices they make just happen to be the right ones, or they just simply manage to defy all odds and consequences to their actions, but Katia “succeeds” in spite of these things never happening for her. Despite being a cat, she’s the purest underdog I’ve ever seen, and I never get tired of a well-told underdog story.

I think this may be one of my favorite webcomics now, and while it doesn’t seem like it will be as epically convoluted as homestuck is shaping up towards, it has a great deal of promise to shine with it’s own particular style and charm, provided the author/artist manages to balance Katia’s personal growth against her horrible luck(give her the worst luck, but don’t keep her from learning from past experience) and balance the community input against his/her own vision for the story(don’t pander, even community driven projects need a leader to keep people directed in the proper direction)
I’m already tempted to join the forums in order to try to offer Katia advice of my own, and this is the most interested I’ve been in playing Oblivion since I got it on sale on steam even though I haven’t played it since then, and I think only 2 or 3 other comics that I’ve read have managed to interest me enough to do even one of those, but never both.

msfrisby

I just wanted to say that I’ve never read Homestuck, or played any of the games that this is apparently referencing, but the story is well told and I am enjoying it immensely. I’m so hopeful for Katia to maybe get some good things going for her in life. I mean, she got through a dinner with royalty type people and didn’t mess up! She’s got magic! She’s even beginning to figure out how it works a little! I’m excited to see where she goes and what kind of progress she makes. I know what it’s like, personally, to come from the dregs of the gutter – sleeping in warehouses and eating out of trash cans, to excruciatingly slowly working my way into something vaguely resembling respectability.

Thanks for making something that anyone can enjoy, even without knowledge of the reference material!

Ays

Just wanted to say “(e.g. ‘just found this, love it’)”

But seriously, awesome job :3 Absolutely LOVE all of the little references to both source materials.

Your writing is great and the art is fantastic!

For a little while there I couldn’t tell if you were actually Mr. Hussie in disguise 😉

Also, that flash update blew my mind!

Looking forward to reading Prequel for a (hopefully) very long time!

-Ays

Nayeli

I just found out about this adventure today, and I have to say that it is very well done~ :3 Still have a lot of catching up to do though.

Green45

My friend linked me this and I thought it would be some incredibly lame MSPA fancomic. What I found was actually better than anything from MSPA itself. Please do not stop making this ever, I would totally donate money to keep this shit on the air.

Taylon

God damn furry making me read another god damned awesome comic about catgirls.
Scrolls kinda bugged me at first but it has a nice art evolution and interesting meta-plot going on with the fans.
Keep up the good work, took an interesting concept and keep rolling with it.
God damned furry comics. =D

Bahumat

Loving this, tremendously, been reading for months now.

Can I pitch an ending/chapter ending? Katia ends up with with a worthwhile love interest, has a celebratory drink, blacks out, wakes up cuddled in bed next to said worthwhile love interest, with the simple story line finit:

I would like to toss my appreciation into the ring. Kazerad, you managed to further expand on my already massively expansive interest in the Elder Scrolls with this brilliantly written and surprisingly well-illustrated bit of crazy. I only wish I got in the story earlier, but now that I’m all caught up I can assure you that you’ve got another fan.

I hope you’re enjoying Skyrim as much as I am! As much as I want to see the story continue, you mustn’t let ANYONE rush you through any Elder Scrolls games! Take your time and enjoy it. Your fans arn’t going anywhere, I’m sure not.

Thedudewhodisagreesandagrees

In what town does Katia’s story begin? I remember it being mentioned in the comic somewhere…

LycoHalostar

Katia arrives by boat in Anvil.

Xopher M.

Gotta admit, some of the HS references did irk me a bit at first. I really liked the art style and several of the jokes though, and your animation skills are really good, especially beyond doing static pictures that slide or zoom in/out (not all of Hussie’s are, but if you look at some of it, it’s pretty basic flash). This kept me going as well as a suspicion that the story was going to come into its own and any MSPA jokes that don’t count as just adventure game jokes would be almost indistinguishable, which they are at the point I’ve just reached. I also really like that you’ve kept with commands as both influential and simply internal dialogue, even though sometimes advancing the story on your own. So this is the fourth adventure game comic I’ve read on the internet that’s impressed me. Great job!

Glav

I love you

_Axel

Really looking forward to the next episodes !

NoriMori

Subscribed. PREQUEL is awesome. The story is great, the illustrations are great, everything is great. Katia Managan has captured my heart, and I want nothing more than to watch her succeed. And if bad things happen along the way, I’ll be here to cheer her on.

Clayton K.

I…identify with this character, in so many ways it’s weird. I don’t know if it’s based off of any person’s real-world experiences, but all the downs and almost ups seem to fit nigh perfectly with most of what I’ve known the past two decades I’ve been breathing.

I know that feel all too well..Thanks.

Jomar

Really enjoying this stuff so far, and wanting more (I comment under “StormTiger” on the forum).

Flyte

Its funny I found this after making my new Khajiit character on Skyrim which I decided to make a heavy armoured warrior armed with a mace, this comic inspired me to make him a magic specializing in the useless school of Alteration.

Kazard

Oh crap, I don’t usually bump into people on the interwebs, who have a username that’s close to mine…Makes an obligatory copy-cat pun

In all seriousness though, this comic is one of the best I’ve found in a while, and if my lack of a life (100+ webcomics I’ve followed/am following) is taken as a reference to my experience, then that means something (to me at least XP).

Rambling last sentence aside, love the comic, and keep on being awesome!

MygL

Started reading a few weeks ago, good stuff, keep it up!

Gamegeneral

Kazerad…I swear I’ve seen stuff by you (Or at least stuff that looks very similarly styled) before. I just can’t place where…
I haven’t found a link to a gallery of yours yet, but I’ll keep looking. Anyone else feel the same?
(Also, new reader get!)

MagmaRumble

linked in from threepanelsoul, laughed my ass off, this is getting bookmarked.

Fletcher

As with MagmaRumble, I came here from Three Panel Soul. This is one of the best community-driven story things I’ve read, right up there with World of Warcraft’s “You Awaken In Razor Hill”. I’ve bookmarked it and am anxiously awaiting further Destitute Alcoholic Catgirl Adventures! 😀

Pteryxx

Who do we fans have to lay to get Prequel Adventures onto the TopWebComics voting roll?

Kazerad

Oh man, TopWebComics is still around?

I’m pretty sure I’d just have to sign up for it, though I’m not sure the benefits of maintaining a TWC voting thingy outweigh the hassle.

The Inzuki

I love this comic series, Kazerad! I absolutely love the idea of this whole comic (an MSPA taking place in TES), so I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind if I tried doing something like this?

Kazerad

Thank you, and feel free!

(though admittedly I’m pretty sure I couldn’t stop you even if I wanted to, since I own no rights to MSPA or TES)

The Inzuki

Ah cheers! Though while I was doing some doodles thinking of a good idea, so I tried drawing a khajiit. But now whenever I try to draw one, they always end up looking like yours.. Example
Curse you! 😛

Gosh! I really loved your series!
I always come back to check any updates. The dinner at Anvil Castle was wonderful and this part in Kvatch is great!
Congratulations!

pallaskitten

As someone who hates Homestuck with physical violence and avoids the MSPA community as far as possible, I have to say, this story is great, cute and heartwarming. Thank you for the nice hours you provided and I’m looking forward for updates. Subscribed.

Rhaz

Did you really make them all in MS paint?

Kazerad

Oh God no, that would be terrible. The visual style is inspired by a comic called MS Paint Adventures and that is the only connection this has to MS Paint.

Most of Prequel is done in a Japanese animation program called GraphicsGale.

eternity08

Oooooohhhhhhhh. So that’s what your using. You may wish to put that in that in the one of the “About” paragraphs.

Robertheus

Just joined in the fun and I have to say I love it! Slowly catching up to the latest update…

woundedkneecap

I just realized this site was threatened by SOPA… room got colder right?

Kajex

It -was- being threatened by SOPA, until it took an arrow in the knee. Now it’s dead in the water.

SotiCoto

Yo… Kazerad…
Nice work. Few questions:
Who / what / where did you go to for hosting of this?
It looks like it was simply and efficiently set up, which is the sorta thing I’ma need soon…

Why? On account of my starting a Skyrim-based webcomic soonish myself. Nothing particularly similar, mind you. I found myself an artist who prefers doing graphic novel semi-realism for one thing… Still, I’d like to get the site thing sorted quickly and efficiently for its first incarnation…. and you’ve done a fine job in those regards right here.

So… what’d you do for the setup of this joint?

Kazerad

I have a shared hosting plan with Hostgator. I’m also using CDN caching from Cotendo to help protect the site from heavy traffic, though that only really became important after I breached 10k views a day.

I’m suspecting what you’re more interested in, though, is WordPress – the blogging software the actual website runs on. http://wordpress.org/ should have all the information you need. Be forewarned, though, that it took a lot of editing before the software became suitable for hosting a webcomic.

SotiCoto

For what it is worth, now several years down the line….

… my Skyrim-based webcomic failed just over 30 pages in because the artist I got help from basically ditched me, and I have no art skills of my own. And I couldn’t get anyone else to help because I got banned from both the official Bethesda boards (for insinuating that I might have downloaded a non-Steam copy of Skyrim) and the forums at the site that was hosting the comic (for giving suicide advice, it being a topic I’m rather familiar with).

So… yeah.
Another on the long list of failures that is my existence.
I pretty much just exist to serve as a warning to others.

anon

isn’t this just effectively a quest-style comic that’s based on the elder scrolls, and happens to reference homestuck occasionally? the format that hussie uses has existed before mspa! (hint, /tg/. rubyquest? drew the lich?)

it’s so great, though, i couldn’t stop reading until i was caught up! the characters are great and the writing is great and everything is just basically overall great and nothing would stop me from loving it down if it had a physical manifestation. please, please continue being a super quality person, author.

62firelight

Is the site revamped or something?

Kazerad

Kind of! You probably wouldn’t notice the difference, but from an internal perspective things are working a bit differently. The caching system was made more robust so the site should be able to survive it the next time traffic suddenly doubles.

Eldrimur

read the whole thing after hearing about it from rockpapershotgun. I must say that I love both the pictures and the characters that you have made. If I could see any adds on the page I would click them right now in support of what you have done. My favorites so far is the animation of when the guard bursts into the dining room and dumps the bodies inn front of every one, the apple slaying and the commend about how the ball gag had her teeth mark and the skeletons on it. Keep up the awesome work!

Eldiran

I was also referred by the RPS article; very, very awesome webcomic! Please keep it up. You seem to get a lot of demanding comments from readers, and I really appreciate that you deal with them so well, and avoid pandering to your audience. Please continue exactly as you have been!

Hypocritically, I’d like to make one request: when this webcomic does end, please do not go for a total downer ending. I don’t expect you would regardless, but I’m oddly invested in this comic and its characters and would hate to see it negated by a subversive ending. (Until the ending though, feel free to pile on the downers and adversity :p )

This is one of the most, if not THE most entertaining webcomics I’ve ever found, and I’m not even that much of a TES fan. (I want to be, but there’s just something about the games, particularly Oblivion, that makes me get really into it for a while, and then lose all interest)

ive been reading this since the beginning, i’m loving it! the hardest part is waiting for the next update!

Vince

*nervously glance around, then forth*
… Greetings, new guy here!
Gosh, I sure wish I had met this earlier. It’s awesome! The whole reading makes me feel enthralled to the plot – it was utterly enjoyable to follow Katia on her “prequel” (disregarding a few bits that made me feel a tad uncomfortable, though, but still)

… To be honest, I WAS pointed out to this place, but my poor capacity to read english texts amd lack of patience to read through long ones didn’t help any to get past the introduction paragraph. Eh, shame on me. >_>

The art style is also delightful, and sometimes even cute to some extent. Admitedly, pixel art never gets old for me. I happen to be an artist, myself (and sure wish I was nearby when Katia had to design attires for herself and Quill-Weave), but I never actually built courage to try something on paint. Kinda clueless on the whole thing, still getting used to brush around in SAI or Photoshop.

Well… err… I look forward for this adventure and whoever/whatever else I might find in here.. ? ^_^;;

Vanguard

I admit, i didn’t expect much from this story when i began reading it, but i read it little more, and now i love it. An interesting story with intriguing characters and hilarious comedy. Love the art style too. Keep up the great work Kaz.

Kazerad

Thank you, and will do! =D

(I sadly don’t have the time to respond to every person who announces their readership, but I really appreciate whenever you guys take the time to drop by and leave a comment.)

Vince

And we greatly appreciate your appreciation. Well… at least I do. :3

Seth

me too

Seth

I LOVE THIS STORY!!! It is really amazing bro. I most say the story line, being different characters, interactive play, and all that is genius. I hope you keep this story going my friend, because fiction story are not really my thing but this is truly amazing. So please keep it going bro. Also if you want to hang look me up on the playstation 3 as Fifi-La-Fume-Fan. Later my friend. P.S. I almost for got, don’t send any messages or anything to my account espenschied@yahoo.com because I will never see trust me, it has to be on the playstation 3.

Seth

P.S. again my brother wont leave me alone on this so I guess he wants to know something. Ok he wants to know what if Katia would somehow mess up time and space on a spell she was doing in mages guild and next thing she knows a dude from the future ends up in front of her? if your wondering he got this from is hes…well…a dreamer as he says. he pictured a tall, strong, black, wolf-boy ( 19-year-old ). he is a soldier of 2012, carrying a barret-50 cal sniper rifle, 2 desert eagles, grenades, a cell phone, 2 large knifes ( main weapon of choice ) , and a bookbag full of U.S. Marine gear. He is very nice but crazy like sirgid from your story. He loves his country America with all his heart. He also loves to help those in need like the homeless. He loves to wear black and red ( also favorite colors ). He mostly wears military ballistic pants, combat boots, T-Shirt, bullet-proof vest, a jacket, and a military beray ( all black ). He hates drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and things like this with all his heart.

Seth

When possible he tries to help stop doing things like smoking and drinking too. He also believes every man and woman should be treated as equals no matter the race, religion, or species. He dont have a name but my bro wants to tell him Seth like me because im thinking of being in the military and because im a good row model like the character he made up. O plus my bro says he is known as the super soldier of America, because he is the fastest, strongest, smartest, and pretty much most skilled soldier. He loves to learn new things that he can cook, draw, heal people ( medical school ), and do others things like this too. Plus he never misses a chance to get some new combat training. ok my bro says that is the character ( Seth ) he made up. So there you go, hell he could be in your story or even a story of his own if you think about. Well you do what you want with ( Seth ) and my brother will keep dreaming. And hopefully not bother me about other strange character for awhile. See you later my friend.

Seth

if you have any questions bro just ask me, ill to help. just write it here because when i leave a comment i like to come back to see what you guys wrote.

Hate to burst your bubble here, but what you’re talking about…isn’t going to happen. First off, including fan-made characters in a webcomic would lead to all sorts of problems, as Kazerad stated below. Aside from that, the character you’re describing wouldn’t fit in a story set in the Elder Scrolls universe. At all. The most obvious reasons being that there is no species of sapient wolves in the lore(there was at one time a vulpine race in Black Marsh, but they no longer exist), and that the United States do not exist in the Elder Scrolls. Aside from that, even if you only take the games themselves into account, Tamriel has essentially been in technological stasis for multiple centuries, so a character with any kind of firearm would most likely be from ridiculously far in the future. As a simple example, Skyrim takes place 200 years after the events of Oblivion, and weapons have yet to evolve past the same swords, bows, axes, maces, and warhammers. The most technologically advanced race in canon, the Dwarves, also mysteriously disappeared, and their inventions seem to have been powered mainly by steam and magic. They also relied on the same types of weapons as any of the other races.

The point I’m getting at is that what you’re describing is really just a crossover, and this is not a crossover comic.

Seth

dude all i did was come up with a character i had in mind for years. i told kaz because i was hoping with my character in his comic it would make the story last longer ( because this is a great comic ) or when kaz finishs the comic he might make another comic i would love to see him come to life. i would do it but i dont know how to make a online comic with videos, music, pictures, moving pictures, and all that. hell not even how to make a website for that matter. thats why i told kaz.

MyUsernamesMud

I am boycotting this comic until Kazerad addresses this horrendously missed opportunity

Seth in Prequel 2012

Blargh

Will there be a picket line? I love picket lines. We can set it up around the commands thread and throw bottles at anyone who tries to post.

maybe or maybe not. i meet she is trying not to drink anymore, so maybe he could help or stop katia from drinking u know. also good name, katia managan. 🙂

Seth

p.s. katia is hot.

kept me cool bro

I really love Prequel. You are so wonderful for making this, and I hope it continues to update far into the future.

Seth

with better outcomes. man i hope ‘ Seth ‘ comes to her her rescue and gets her stuff back and kills sirid. OR SOMETHING GOOD!!! everybody needs alittle good luck now and then you know.

Seth

katia kill sirid!

Seth

kill

Vins

… Seth fella over there reminded me of something. Tell me, does Kaz or any percentage of the fans of Prequel bear any sort of über hatred upon fan-characters? Gotta say, got quite a trauma from the first webcomic I followed. The artist despised fan-chars and I didn’t know. Since it seemed like plenty o’ people have made one of their own, I went along to don’t be left out (fail at socializing, anyone?)

So yea, I’m actually somewhat curious as to what’s you guys’ general opinion over the matter. ._.
(Seth: congrats for your bro’s creativity, by the way c: )

Seth

OK OK i lyed. im iust enbarrused or how you spell it about my constant dreaming i haven’t seen my bro scene on my 11th brithday. now im 25. i feel so strange when i tell or show people my creativity that i keep it too my self like other things. im not very good with people :-(. thats why i keep to myself. i call him ‘Seth’ because i cant think of anything and everything i said up there is true but about my brother sorry.

Seth

sorry cant type fast. i try slower next time to stop constant mistakes.

Seth

o and thanks vins :-).

Kazerad

Hahaha, I’m guessing that first webcomic you followed was Bittersweet Candy Bowl? It had to be Bittersweet Candy Bowl.

As far as I understand, Taeshi’s problem was that she introduced a number of fancharacters into the story, then the original creators had expectations for what happened to them. After introducing a few, that naturally prompted more people to suggest theirs, and in the end I suspect she basically had to show a degree of animosity toward them.

I don’t think it’s something I really have to worry about. I mean, I don’t think anyone is actually expecting a US Wolf-Marine from the future (???) to appear through a time portal and join Katia?

Vins

Bullseye, sire! Yep, it was BCB. Thought I shouldn’t go advertising, so I didn’t mention. >_>
I’ve come up with the subject, though, because I fear of me risking to make something similar.

You see, I like Medieval Fantasy a lot, and am actually planning to make one of my own in the future, but so far I’m still on baby steps. (having school and all that) Said baby step is: making the main character.

Other Medieval Fantasy webcomics, when they’re actually very good in my opinion, inspire me further into doing concept art and planning his biography. All I’ve got so far, though, was a skill-lacking (from my point of view) drawing of him. It’s not even fully done, and gotta re-design a few things. The little backstory thought up so far is not even on paper.

My fear was mostly to don’t be welcome for the idea of doodling him around with Katia, and what-not, you see? 🙁

Seth

no what the hell is bitter sweet candy bowl. im sorry but your wrong. i all ready said why up there. hey look VINS IS BACK!

Seth

everytime i read what kaz wrote it makes me laugh.

Seth

im surprised to see that kaz haven’t said anything yet?

Seth

you know whats funny? i suck at spelling but im a really good writer.

Eli

This is a technical question, but how did you incorporate this comment form into your site? I’m a graphic designer, I’ve had to make sites before, but I detest coding in any form. I’m trying to do something similar to what you’re doing – drawing an ongoing interactive story – but I can’t really do that unless people can post feedback. I noticed the class tagging, so I assumed it was some kind of flat file system. Maybe XML…?

But anyway, all of that is over my head, and I’ve just been wanting to get it out of the way so I can get back to drawing. Did you plug something into your site somehow, or did you just do a couple edits to an existing platform…? Any sort of help would be appreciated. Feel free to use my e-mail; I’ll check here manually if not.

I enjoy reading Katia’s mishaps; I don’t suggest, but I check the site at least once a week. I hope it never feels like a burden. (I say that from some experience…)

Kazerad

The comment code is part of WordPress, a free blogging software package the site is built off of. I picked WordPress because it was easy to set up, but I can’t really recommend it to anyone else after having worked with it. It uses a LOT of server resources; after I hit around 5k views a day it started having performance issues, and at 15k Hostgator disabled the site because it was slowing down their whole server. The only reason this site can even run WordPress right now is because of some very powerful caching systems.

That said, if you’re just looking for a way for people to leave suggestions, I personally think your best bet would be to hard-code the site (or find some webcomic-specific code) and then get a forum for the suggestions. It means the average reader would only be loading a simple webpage, and the much smaller number of people who are willing to go through the forum registration process would be accessing the more server-intensive parts of the website.

Anyway, hope this helps! And thanks for reading!

Eli

I was attempting to use WordPress because there’re a lot of free applications for it right now, but I was running into one too many limitations. I really wanted to avoid a forum because 1) no one has ever heard of me anyway, and that’s a lot of work for possibly no payout and obviously low activity (thus chasing off potential participants) and 2) you have to navigate off-page from the information. Maybe there’s some way to frame off a forum resource within the same page… Well, anyway. Thanks for your help. Since you’re on your own domain, you should look into generating some traffic revenue. Couldn’t hurt.

Maybe I’ll just start my project on the MSPA forums, which I have not ever visited until I saw yesterday that you had linked it. I just don’t have the time in between my 6 am to 6 pm job to commit to doing all this research and coding, when I just want to draw, you know? Building a portfolio site took long enough.

I’m also curious how you did some of the more complicated flash scenes, like that easter egg pole dance-off. The idea of hand pixelating all those animations made me wince, so I thought maybe you’d edited something prerendered, but it seemed pretty seamless. That’s my way of saying I was impressed. I don’t emote well. Thanks for your time again; I look forward to more adventures of the pre nature, quel or not.

Kazerad

Ooh, yeah, if you’re worried about garnering readership then the MSPA Forums are probably a good idea, since it’ll basically drop you right into the middle of your focus group. The amount of traffic in their Forum Adventures section is actually pretty impressive; I know I had well over 2k regular readers before I even launched the Prequel website.

As for on-site advertising, I’m not really looking for money. Though, I have been considering doing some advertising myself. Right now the only places I even link the comic are in my signatures on the MSPAF and Something Awful forums. Well, and I have a TF2 weapon called “The Read My Damn Webcomic“.

And yeah, the poledancing animations were hand-pixeled. Most of my Pre-Prequel art experience was in sprite animation, so that sequence is probably the closest thing in the comic to my “normal style”.

My background is hand illustration. I tried doing a comic, but I found it too slow. (I vaguely remember asking you a question on 4chan about how fast you got through your stuff.) I ended up deciding on just sketching small widescreen panels and using text instead of word balloons. So much faster…

But you reminded me: something I and a couple other people have wondered, is what’re you doing these in? Regular old paint? Photoshop can’t really get crisp lines like that since it LOVES rasterizing everything, even when you tell it not to. And I thought paint was a little odd since some things look like they’d require layers, plus it’s obvious you’re using a library system of base images. Believe me, I’d love to know since I often find myself wanting images like that but I can’t bring myself to give up the workspace of PS. I tried ToonBoom but clean vector isn’t really the same thing.

About the income thing. I have no real use for money myself, but it’s a “well, may as well” kind of thing. You’ve got the traffic, and it costs no money to put in the ads. Just some time investment to learn how to jam them in there, and in cycling them of course. Free money. Slap some Skyrim banners on that puppy. Don’t get much for loads, though. Mainly clicks. Google Ads was a waste of time in my experience. But anyway. I’m also part of our company’s marketing group so I get out of hand about it… You should at least look into SEO rankings. Ignoring money, that’ll bring in more readers that wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. Like if I google “elder scrolls comic,” I’d think Prequel should be on the first page at least. Keywords and stuff.

Kazerad

Oh, hey, I remember that question! Yeah, I know I’ve personally found this style a lot more enjoyable to use than conventional comic layouts.

The images for Prequel are mostly made in GraphicsGale, a Japanese program for sprite animation. It works alright, though with the amount of scaling I do I sometimes wish I had stuck to vectors. If you’re just looking for sharp pixely edges, remember that most vector programs can export aliased edges. Or at the very least, they can export EMFs that programs like MSPaint can open aliased.

And I personally wouldn’t say ads are costless. They’re easy to drop in, but they can really muck up an otherwise appealing visual design. There’s an certain conflict of interest to them; I want to go for a relatively consistent color scheme and draw the viewer’s eyes in one direction, whereas the advertiser often wants to stand out as much as possible. If there were an ad company that generated non-animated ads fitting to a user-defined color scheme, I’d give them a shot – but as far as I know, only Google Ads has done that, and only with their text ads.

Which is a huge shame (potential entrepreneurs take note)! Right now it’s basically just a question of how much money someone is willing to forego in the name of visual appeal. My price is pretty high.

Eli

Well, having used google ads, I can say they don’t do much. Also, as a graphic designer, people don’t really click on ads unless they see them, and if they’re just text, they probably won’t notice them. The cruel reality of marketing is like the cruel reality of life: the most visible people are the most successful, regardless of whether that visibility is generated admirably. I definitely sympathize with the desire to make things not butt ugly though.

I apparently need 12 posts to make a thread on the MSPA forums, and I’m not going to needlessly spam, so I guess I’ll be suggesting things for Katia for the next couple of weeks. I’ve run a couple of quests before, so I can sympathize with people feeling slighted for not getting their way. Especially when you’re trying to write a story and people feel the need to make suggestions that would completely derail the entire theme. In this case, getting Katia to never make any mistakes again, and to not have any misfortunes. It would basically make for a rather dull story.

Kazerad

My own personal experiences with Google Ads were much the same, yeah. Though as a researcher, I was more put off by its “black box” mentality – I really wanted to know why it was choosing the ads it was, which got the most clicks, who was clicking through all the way to a purchase, etc.. I have thought about offering advertising space with the caveat that I make the ads specifically to fit the site’s visual style and humor, but I’d want to put that off until I have more free time.

Also, you should be able to make threads in the “Cradle” subforum even if you have less than twelve posts! As far as I know, the post limit is disabled for that subforum specifically because so many people want to start forum adventures as soon as they join.

I first tried working in layers, which did not last long. Using one for shading worked well, except for light. I’ve yet to try animating in it. I think I’ll stick to Photoshop for my own adventure, though (www.gauged.us). It looks clean and nice, but it’s a lot of work, since it’s easy to notice every stray pixel. I’d go crazy pretty easily if I were you. The desire to be more realistic would drive me mad. Plus you can animate in Photoshop anyway. With really huge quotes around “animate.”

Kazerad

=O oh wow, that turned out very nice. But yeah, the program is built primarily for pixel art and spritework so its limitations start to show when using conventional raster art techniques like layer-based shading/highlights. Pixel artists generally prefer to work with a tight, limited palette and have complete control over which colors are used. E.g. here’s a piece off Pixel Joint that was done with 64 colors; the artist has a gif showing their process.

Oh, and hopefully you wouldn’t mind if I stuck that on the fanart page?

I’ve had to make textures for low res games and some sprites before. It’s pretty fun seeing how much of a distinct image you can squeeze into a few pixels. But not when you’re drawing a dozen images a week, I guess… When you work with no aliasing, it’s amazing how even a single pixel can blatantly stand out and destroy a whole image.

I never tried animating a sprite before, I think. It kind of makes me wonder, because on one hand, screwing up one pixel on a sprite can really much it up. On the other hand, animation has a way of hiding major flaws because everything blends together. Either that means animating sprites is easier than you’d think or like a machine gun of suck.

Seth

o man kaz i dont remember if i asked before but what can i do to watch the last three videos in prequel on my PS3 ( dont have a computer )? why can i watch all of them but those? do you think you can put them in youtube or are they not videos? sorry im asking so much but i feel like im missing out. please help. o before you reply i already have the latest flash thing in my system.

Seth

p.s. i never hear of a bittersweet candy bowl

lmfao@seth

oh my fucking god. sweet jesus christ almighty. there are NO words.

seth, do you have downs, or are you a troll?

do you need me to use smaller words? CAN YOU UNDERSTAND? perhaps if i reiterate my post in 6 year old friendly wolf-boy language?

hahaha, oh my god, im so sorry to spoil it for everyone else laughing at him while hes (seemingly – i mean, its gotta be a troll, right? that much downs would distort a mans eyes too much to read text on a screen, surely?) oblivious, but i just cant help it. this retard made my fucking day.

kaz, you have my most sincere sympathies for having this cretin on your site. i really cant understand how this attracted either a rather unfortunatly pathetic 6 year old, or an actual retard. would have thought it was a bit high-brow, but i guess random chance strikes again.

Though I find myself greatly troubled over my most treasured of commenters exchanging blows amongst themselves, I shall restrain my tears and spill them into my feelings journal later so that we may frankly address a few real concerns now.

Firstly, this is neither a chatroom nor an instant message to Seth from PrequelAdventures, it is a comments section. I do not believe you have yet grasped the differences, Seth, so I shall lay them out. You do not need to reply to every comment; I would greatly prefer that you /not/ reply to comments if your only opinion on the matter is “ok.” In a comment section, people are not talking to you, specifically, and so do not need to know that you have read what they said–they are simply having a discussion. If you have something to contribute to that discussion, wonderful! Feel free to reply to that. I must also inform you that even if it were the Prequel Poetry aPpreciation Phase, posting inanity with no connection to the story, discussion, Elder Scrolls universe, Kazerad sightings by Lake Loch Ness, or sad cats is greatly frowned upon.

Sincerely,

Your friendly, neighborhood, Site Moderator Whimbrel
~◕ w◕~

lmfao@seth

just as a curiosity point, by the way, were the asterisks moderated or his doing? because if they were his, i think it somewhat reinforces my point, lol

to be honest, it looks like hes just typed in a load of asterisks to avoid having to think of a responce, i cant think of any suitable real world substitutes for ‘*. *. * ‘, which, if thats the case, is actually rather sad.

also, seth? i really wouldent try talking to the big boys until your at least 9, or so, kiddo. seriously, youl only embarass yourself, and regret it when your older. and even then, try to form actual sentances, yeah?

i didnt have many friends growing up either, i played a lot of video games, and read a lot of books. gives you a wide range of pseudo experiences which is fun, and something you wont regret. embarrasing yourself massively on the internet, or in real life, or wherever, though, is something that will make you cringe for years to come. mind you, i didnt have an internet connection until i was quite a bit older than you are, so i may have been tempted in your situation.

reading comics is also, obviously, fine, but dont try to have adult conversations when your not an adult in terms of personal maturity, whenever that might occur – it just wont work, trust me

seriously, you are very clearly a child, however much you say your 25 or whatever you want to say, adults CAN tell, whenever children lie significantly about their age – a lot of kids do.

you wont manage to fool us and you will suceed in embarrasing yourself.

if you want to post, fine, but the pretending is obvious, and just means wel all laugh at you about it. youl do the same when your older. try just expressing your opinions honestly and not going on massive weird ass stories about how youve fantasised that your a magical wolf man that has all the traits you want to have (which included being a wolfman, apparently, but not my place to judge) – thats called escapism, and a lot of, if not most, children do it (though admittedlty not about being a wolf man O_o) but its self gratuiotous, and doesnt interest anyone else, nor will anyone else add validity to it. its better off kept as something to think about when you cant sleep, or on long car journies to keep your mind occupied. there is nothing innately wrong with people of any age expressing their opinion, but if you notice your opinions arent generally shared by anyone except your own age group, well, as i said, i didnt have many friends either – you will stumble on like minded people as you get older though, even if it seems unlikely, it does just happen eventually.

that said, if you cut out the blatent lies and attempts to validate personal fantasies, there is no reason that you couldent join in here. however the whole place, or no places, for that matter, are going to up and change and take you as by default the greatest thing ever – that just doesent happen, you are one individual person, as is everyone else. it might seem stupid and unfair now, but the sooner you let go of it and accept it, the more time you have to do as much as you can with what you have. i know that sounds like a horrible prospect to you, but really, life WILL NOT change JUST because you want it to – the wanting it to has to cause you to change it. if you understand that, and actually try, youl get to a point where you can be happy sooner than if you delay it.

and no, im not a selfless, or a nice person. that whole thing WAS a way of subtly mocking you, but it is still true, so now ive taken the piss, you might as well actually try to gain something from it – if you dont i can guarentee i wont be the last person to ridicule you. and even saying that was, to say it clearly, because you dont seem to have the greatest grasp of vocabulary – i am not on your side, but by mocking you in a way which is genuinly helpful, and then pointing it out, it drives my point in more.

this is called subtlety and its something youl pick up when your older

Edit: You’ll be able to tell when a post has been edited by a Moderator
~◕ w◕~

FloorBelow

While I agree with you absolutely, can I reccomend that when trying to act mature and subtle you CAPATALISE YOUR GODDAMNED I’S?

lmfao@seth

*subtlety

and im only correcting that one because its obvious, right at the end where i can see it, and changes the meaning of the sentance – i know the whole thing will be riddled with typographical errors, but eh, its a forum, not a letter to a client

Seth

hey kaz cant wait to see what happens next my friend. great job on the dramatic effects to.

Durrvurrkiin

Well, I’ve been reading for a while, but only recently have I started looking at the comment sections. Having done so, all I can say is: Dear Akatosh, I’m sorry you have to deal with all that. Assuming, of course, that you actually read through them. If I were in your position I think I might eventually just have an aneurysm from the sheer amount of repetitive hate. That said, I’ve been enjoying the story very much so far, and your attention to detail is impressive. I think the fact that so many of your references go right over my head is a testament to how in-depth your knowledge of the Elder Scrolls games and the universe behind them is. That, or I need to go back and play them more. Keep up the good work!

Idra

Kaz,

I hope you know you’ve made one of the more beautiful web comics out there and that you don’t read too much into the trolls. I don’t know if more than a half dozen web comics meet anything like commercial success so there’s little besides people like me telling you to keep it up.

If you ever stopped making this because of anything other than finishing the story you wanted to tell, that would be a greater heart breaker than anything that happens to Katia.

Johnny

This is the best web comic I have ever read.
You ain’t just making the cat cry, you are also making your users cry, this comic is better than all the B’aww threads i have been in.
Keep up the good work, you are doing it Purrfect!

theplunderking

this acctually makes me sad when i read it. i am still amazed that you can do that with a story on the internet kaz 0_o. as long as you keep writing i will continue to be foolishly optimistic for katia (regardless of the title of the story/website) keep writing and don`t let those hater comments get you down. (you can tell how into the story they are by how they get mad when its a sad update) : )

Mr.Fluffy :3

Woof. kaz i wanted how you did great making this online comic. bark. you sure have the talent of a professional writer. so on behalf of wolves ever where i wanted to say amazing job ,and i howl at the next full moon in your honor. Woof :3. also i checked out the bitter sweet candy bowl and you my human friend took the deer on that one. Woof, Woof :3. also don’t use my Seth idea please (now Mr.Fluffy) because i got a future idea for it first. anyway have a happy howling for the next nights to come. Bark, Woof. :3

Cutest and most likeable character I have ever met, gave me a reason to start playing Oblivion again.

Mr. Fluffy :-(

i no you moderator r watching. i have questions i would like to ask u.

Mr. Fluffy :-(

r u there or r u waiting 4 me to ask?

Mr. Fluffy :-(

its ok ill just go as always. sorry for bothering you. 🙁

Ja-ke-cob

Do you know what would be cool if you made a () ()
prequel app because it will let the people who (^-^)
already read prequel to be able to read prequel ()( )()
when theres no internet plus it would bring in more “”( )( )””
fans and you can make money off the app but if you “” “”
charge money for the app you won’t get as many people
buying it :'(

Ja-ke-cob

() ()
(^-^)
()( )()
“”() ()””
“” “”
I meant for it to look like this hopefuly the form doesnt cut it off in this comment

Ja-ke-cob

never mind sorry for takeing up space

Ch’marr

Oh no! Our bits and pixels! We’ll never get those back, now! 🙂

LapineLunaire

Dear author person,

It seems like you’ve had some first hand experience (or at least very personal second hand experience) with chronic low self esteem and major depression, because Katia’s story hits home so hard it almost knocks me out, for this manic depressant, rock-bottom self-esteem survivor.

I can’t claim to know what you’ve been through or how it really felt, but I felt a kindred spirit in Katia, at a time when I was at my weakest.

Katia made the smallest, most seemingly insignificant advances, and then fell HARD. Repeatedly. Some readers got obviously frustrated and lost hope, probably stopped reading… not realizing that each slip back down that slope into that dark hole, Katia ended with just a few inches more footing than she originally had.

That’s what the struggle with depression is like. You can never just one day decide you’re better, it’s not like realizing something you missed before, some new evidence that suddenly makes everything right.

Each day is a literal and figurative struggle. Each day, if you’re lucky, you gain maybe an infinitesimally small bit of footing, only a few more inches towards getting “better”, and that’s only if you have the willpower, only if you’ve made the conscientious decision to change. Few people realize how much willpower that takes, I think perhaps only people who’ve been there can.

Katia has been there. It will be slow, and it will be hard, perhaps the hardest thing you could ask of a person, but she will climb out of that hole and become the fantastic person/khajiit/wizard she was meant to be.

Here’s to everyone that’s ever felt like Katia. To the people that knew what they were, that they had to change, and struggled so hard against their darker natures even when it felt like they could never move forward. To those that succumbed to their darker selves, only later to hate themselves the more for it. For whomever cared so much about what someone else thought that they’d try to move the very earth just to be worth that person’s passing thought.

To whomever cared about the people like Katia, who believed in them and supported them when they clearly didn’t know how to believe in themselves. Who saw them fail, again and again, but stood by them, told them they could make it, even though it was clear to them it was impossible.

To those that have been there, I can say:
You will emerge from that darkness, that black and endless hole, as Katia will, as the radiant and chromatic people that only such an experience can create. You will emerge as heroes. Perharps you wont get to be wizards, but you will emerge as artists, writers, song-singers, poets, architects, dream-makers, those rare and wonderful people who can move the lives of others in the deepest of ways.

To those that have stood by those that have clearly been where Katia is, I can say:
It will be worth it. You know in your heart it will. That’s why you’ve stood by us. We will get better. You may think that day to day we are not getting any better, that your support isn’t really doing anything, but you are dead wrong. Please, keep believing. We love you, and we will not let you down. We will show you beauty and truth and joy that only your sacrifice can bring about, your personal sacrifice in caring about one such as us. It has not gone unnoticed, and it will not go unrewarded.

To all the people. There is love and goodness in the world, and a silly story about a slutty khajiit can make you realize it.

ShiroNoOokami

I don’t think I’ve ever been enchanted by a webcomic before.

I’ve read plenty of funny ones, even few dramatic ones here and there, but nothing I’ve seen has ever captivated me quite like Prequel. I can’t really put my finger on any one element that makes me say this; I simply find the experience as a whole to be simply satisfying and even enriching.

I love the work that you’ve done so far, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we appreciate all of the hard work you’ve put into breathing life into this living narrative.

I look forward to the next update eagerly.

-Shiro

Mungcasings Twoquivers

Bestheda -where- and Elder Scrolls on -what rig- I wonder? Also, which Joystiqgasm thread and what empty cheat framework and using which script and rest policies then? Also…is there supposed to be Flash going on as well as prequeladventure.com javascript or WebGL, or just one or another? Finally, I wonder if you offer a certification so that I can put ‘Play As Cat’ on my c.v.

Pako

I knew your skills would get you somewhere, Rad ;D

Syvar

I love this comic. The characters are very endearing. I especially like Gharug Gro-Upp. Honestly, I’ve been really depressed lately. Reading this has proven to be a wondrous distraction from that. So, thank you. You are a fantastic person who deserves random totally non-creepy hugs from strangers on the street.

seelcudoom

“Thanks, and I hope you enjoy reading my story about a slutty alcoholic cat who hears internet voices. ”
ok thats just mean
shes not slutty
shes not had sex or even done anything sexual(and only thought sexual a few times, but thats because the voices brought it up) once sense the start of the comic unless she was drunk as hell
also do you plan to end were oblivion starts or do you plan to continue into the oblivion crisis
and i love you for giveing an explanation for everything in game

Bushmaster

A really awesome piece of storytelling.

The whole story is really powerful in making the audience care about what happens to Katia; you can see it in the comments and the suggestions, it’s this emotional attachment of the readers and the way it’s achieved that I think really makes Prequal what it is and is a credit to Kazerad and everyone he’s had help him out from time to time.

Who knew that that so many people could become emotionally attached to a near useless fictional character with an alcohol problem, (ir)rational fear of royalty, painted on underware, next to no skills and a habit of causing disaster wherever she goes.

Bravo.

Kazerad

Thank you, I’m glad you like it!

I know I don’t reply to every comment here, but I really do appreciate your (and everyone else on this page’s) kind words!

Vaultdweller

This got me hooked real quick. Started reading last Friday and went through all the way to the latest update. I feel a strong need for more, so I’m impatiently waiting for the next update. Keep up the good work, it’s made my recent days much more enjoyable.

11/10 would (and definitely will) read again.

MyNameIsKatia

THIS STORY IS THE BEST OF THE WORLD.I LOVE IT!!!

TheBlackShadow

Katia <3

Dust

I don’t have a forum account or anything, and I’m usually one of the people who lurks and doesn’t comment.

But I was going back and reading the older updates, and seeing all of the hate-filled comments was a really strange feeling. On the one hand, congratulations for being able to instil so much emotion in your readers with this story. On the other hand, I feel like there have to be other voices that chime in when others are loud and negative.
I started reading this because it made me laugh harder than I have at a webcomic in a long time. I’m hooked because I think I see what you’re trying to accomplish here – the unbearably tiny steps, the well-researched and subtle references, and the undeniable fact that you’re completely in control of the over-story regardless of the choices often made by the readers. It’s truly impressive to see.

More than anything, I hope this story reaches its conclusion. Or at the very least that we get to bear witness to Asotil and Gro-Upp coming face-to-fist.

Can’t thank you enough for this labor of love of yours.

Untamo

Just saying hi and thanks! I read through the whole thing, and it was awesome. Eagerly waiting for more 🙂

Rainbow Dash

hey kaz will there be a dragon scene? that would be 20% cooler if katia discovers her powers and gets a dragon a pony beat down.

Squirrelly Jack

I just started reading this yesterday and just recently read it up to the latest installment. Boy oh boy do I have some things to say about it…

I’ll admit that I’m actually not a very big fan of the MS Paint Adventures stuff, but this was something else… I was actually kinda worried at first that it was going to end up like Homestuck-I should probably shut up before I hurt someone’s feelings. ANYWAY, Prequel dashed my expectations and actually impressed me.

I’m not just saying that because it’s about a cat with tits… ok, so maybe it’s because its about a cat with tits. But Katia’s seriously an adorable, tragically amusing, and somewhat relatable character. Her quest for self-improvement is actually a great plot, especially for something like this. We’ll never truly know when it will end. Her checkered past, her weaknesses, her abilities, her magic, her failures, her triumphs, her fears, her interests, etc all make her a truly interesting individual. This story seriously had me wanting to hug her. Dawwwwwwww! <3

I also find the minor characters to be hilarious, with the mage who is loved by everyone but is really a greedy thief, the overly-dedicated knight who kills criminals and lets people loot their corpses, the wizards whom hold their hands up like Cornholio all the time, the crazy lady who tried poisoning the well to kill a few fish, the polite wizard who raises the dead and has a cat fetish, etc. etc. Even though Kat's a bit of a nutter herself, she seems pretty sane in comparison to most of these guys.

Even though there's moments where I had to skim through some of the rambling and commands, and, as I mentioned, I'm not fond of the MSPA format and prefer traditional comic layouts, the story's pretty great and makes up for it. The art has its moments where its actually really good. Also the flash sequences are pretty impressive.

Furthermore, I liked the use of the title of my favorite song when they were at the dinner party. That alone made me like this more. Good show, can't wait to see what the adorable yet troubled Katia gets into next. Cheers!

TLDR; It’s good and I like it. :3

Squirrelly Jack

Also I forgot to mention that I misread the book store guy’s name as “Hitler”. Idunno, I thought that was kinda fucking hilarious for some reason.

Chaplain Kenchi

Agreed, and my story is much the same. ^_^
I came acrossed this story on pure accident…

I have long been a fan of Elder Scrolls games since I discovered Morrowind in Middle School. And I have had the pleasure of playing through both Oblivion and Skyrim (accompanied by all possible uploadable content) with my Argonian Adventurer: “Kaizen-Chi.” And throughout all three playthroughs, I have felt closest to the plights of Argonians and Khajiit. They are often looked down on by all other races, seen as strange, different, more savage in nature. So I grew closer with the character I had made. Katia reminds me so much of him; as far as wanting to overcome the stereotypes of her race and becoming a good person, and possibly a hero.
I often enjoyed the fan-art of both races on Google images, but Katia’s pics kept popping up…so one day I wanted to check out who the adorable young lady was. See if a story came along with this picture. And by golly, was I far from dissapointed! A story two years in the making, and one that sucked me in instantly! It took me a whopping two and a half days to read all the way up to the current point of Katia training in Kvatch with the old redguard! And I can barely wait to read more…and even hopefully, play my part to be apart of it. I couldn’t pass up the oppurtunity to hopefully offer Katia advice that could bring her closer to her dreams.
I wanted to hug and pat her back when she was at her lowest points, and exchange epic high fives when she reached an accomplishment that brought out that beautiful smile of hers! And the nerdiest notion of all, I’ve wanted to introduce my Kaizen-Chi as a helper in her times of danger or peril. No time did I want to do that more than when she was being bewitched by Sigrid…I’ll probably now and forever hate that name.

But all of this just polishes how well of a storyteller Kaz is, no? To get so many involved, wanting to be an actual part of such a story. Hehe, I bet, if we all had our way, Kaz would be neck deep in artwork; adding all of us as characters to assist Katia in whatever ways we could. Face it, one way or another, we all have a soft spot for the Dessert Cat now. ;3

The saddest part, on my end, is being on active duty in the U.S navy will allow me such little time to be active in her life. In my five year contract, I’ll have much to look foreward to every time I come back and catch up on Katia’s progress…and hopefully be granted the oppurtunity to congradualte Katia on how much farther she’s come each time. >_<
End dialouge tower. XD

Thanks Kaz; Happy belated Birthday, and early New Years Eve. (=^.^=)

Sutr

Hey there. I was wondering when the story is set. Should we be worried about Mehrune attacking the Imperial City? Is Corprus something to worry about? Is the dragon in Skyrim news? Is it set even earlier? You don’t have to answer, I was just wondering.

Janx

Because she’s in Kvatch, it’s safe to say it’s a bit before the events of Oblivion, ie before the whole Mehrunes Dagon thing, as Kvatch hasn’t been burned to the ground by Daedra, yet. I’d say it’s not THAT far away either, considering the Mythic Dawn cultist that was hanging around outside Kvatch

KatonRyu

I came across this series yesterday and read it through to the final installment today. Katia is easily one of the most adorable protagonists I’ve ever seen in any series and she’s certainly one of my new favorites. All the things that go wrong for her just make me want to hug her and like a couple of other commenters here I wish I could use my severely overpowered character to help her somehow. Can’t wait for more!

Daemon

Just finished reading the comic yesterday. Took me about three days to finish all of it (well all of it so far). This is the first web comic I’ve read, I came across it through random Googling, and am I amazed. At first all Katia’s failings were kind of depressing but that just made the elation when she started succeeding all the more real. I’ve already started thinking “we” sometimes when referring to Katia or the commands used, even though I haven’t posted a comment on the commands forum yet, because I already feel an attachment to her. <3
I love how you break the fourth wall during Katia's dreams, I never knew something like that was possible in a web comic. The second dream actually made me have to stop reading for a while and reflect on what I just saw (being in a dark room helped with the atmosphere too).
Some of the references to TES games are genius, especially in the Excelsior walk-around bit. Having played Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim (though unfortunately not in that order) it still took me a few takes to notice some of the references. Some I wasn't sure if they were references and I was just over-thinking it, but reading a few comments, I'm sure now that they were. 😉

To conclude: awesome comic, Kaz; thanks for keeping me busy these past few days (and nights); keep up the good work and I hope to see you all in the forum.

karacal

I did this for you!!!

Man of Mer

Man, how time can fly by. It’s been almost a year ago since I’ve discovered his webcomic, and I discovered this in a very strange way. I was inspired to make an amulet of talos after playing Skyrim, and searched on google if any tutorials were offered. Then I came across a picture of a half naked Khaajit with the word “Amulet” bolded. Curiously, I chased the link, and here I am now. Thanks for showing this to me fate! Oh, and Kazerad.

deathnerd117

i discovered it when browsing rule 34. yeah. embarassing.

Man of Mer

That’s alright. Least your curiosity led you here. (Besides I think more then half of us here look for Katia’s 34 stuff)

deathnerd117

*stands and gives a standing ovation with tear in eye*

alistair

will you ever make a cast list ?

BeenWaiting

this should happen

marzipandreaming

I just started reading this and I’ve been enjoying it a lot. I’ll admit I was little apprehensive about it knowing that it grew out of Homestuck. I have really tried to get it into HS and I have never been able to. Prequel has a very similar format… but, I dunno. I like it a lot more. Maybe it’s the fact that it is also based in the Elder Scrolls games (which I love). Whatever it is, it is working and working quite well, I might add.

Keep at it, my fiance and I are hooked <3

Megan Skooma Pirate

You really need to start making Katia merchandise! Seriously!

Conrad McCarlson O’Shamus

I’d totally wear a Prequel shirt if one existed.

Aulakauss

I would totally buy a Prequel shirt. They’d probably be too expensive to be practically done but The Amulet of Silence, character plushies, stuff like that.. totally would buy that.

Dan1

one thing that I would be interested in seeing is how much the storyline is affected by user submission. how much has the plot been planned ( and users just filling out the details) or how much was entirely decided by submissions. (ex. was Katia ever supposed to get the care package from the necromancer or was there always a plan to intercept? (did the audience kill him or was there always going to be something that got in the way?[stolen,went to wrong house, caught by Imperial soldier etc])
I think that would be an interesting thing for Kazerad to make a thread on. Either way great story so far.

anon

I like pie…

…and PREQUEL.

El_Rata

Hi!

Just found the comic last night and didn’t stop reading until I finished it (well, up to the point it currently stands, that is.) I really liked it, and can’t wait to see how it goes on. Hope Katia gives that pretentious snob cheater a lesson she never forgets. Like burning the whole place down to ashes, sexy deceiving bitch (or her hair, at the very least) included. Just saaaaaying…. =P

Keep up the good work!

Veru

I’ve been wondering, would you mind if I made something similar? Or, how do you make this in the first place? I’m very curious, I’m just getting into animation, and would love to hear how you make such an amazing story!

Kazerad

I don’t mind at all! This comic was already inspired by a bunch of other things, so it only makes sense to continue the cycle. Let me know if you have any specific questions about how things are made.

Note: uuupdaaate faaasteeer *winge*, between this and the Homestuck paws I don’t know if I can make it, I’m going to have to read something else

Neo za Buraddoejji

HEY!!! I like the comic and love Kat!

I would like to continue reading more of this comic and
hope better luck for katia.

Reason

I love this comic,

BaandaarTheInevitable

Just finished the web comic, extremely well done, when can we expect an update kaz?

MentallyUnstable

Found a youtube video with a song dedicated to this comic so I thought to check it out.

Love the pictures. Love the choice in using a Khajiit. Very entertaining story.

I can see why everyone loves it. Sadly I am what many would call a prude, so I quickly lost interest when Katia woke up naked in bed with an orc. With all the references to alcoholism and a inappropriate party trick involving a yoyo and a pineapple, the exhibitionist and promiscuous nature this story is taking isnt for me.

I am more of the soul mate true love with plenty of bloody murder on the side. Kill one rapist bastard in the bathroom with a shoe string and a pair of chopsticks, save a thousand victims, and still get home in time to have dinner with the one women I have ever been with.

BUT! My philosophy has always been, to each their own path and so I wish you continued success on this much beloved comic.

Lucid Cataclysm

Wait, so often does prequel update?

Nikki

The author tries to update whenever he can, but right now he is very busy. However, I’m sure that he is working and will post the update as soon as it is ready.

Nikki

I’m really enjoying this series so far! Thank you for all of your hard work, and I look forward to your next update.

Matthew0275

It is bad that the character I relate to the most is a long since deceased dark elf who is a single prolonged moment of boredom from becoming insane and hostile?

Hello Kazerad и Ch’marr. I’m from russian community and we’re translating your story to russian. It’s kinda hard but still very interesting to read. So can you give us your flash pages in .fla format so we could translate it too?
If you like this idea plz tell me how can i contact with you.

Kazerad

I typically ask people not to translate because because I prefer people to read the comic in English if they are able, since that is the only version I can guarantee the quality of. It also draws traffic away from my site and impairs my ability to fix the occasional art errors when a version of the comic is hosted elsewhere. My position on this might change eventually when the story is complete, but for now pretty much stick by it.

Pyotr Ivanovich

There is nothing to worry about. ~80% of people reading my translation never heard about this story before. Plus im linking back to your site in the end of every translated page which most of my readers click on so you can only get benefits from it. I’ve translated the story prior to first fireball practice and looking for a way to translate Kvatch RPG.

Kazerad

Oh no, I missed the voting period! Was it a public vote? I’m going to feel bad if I could have steamrolled it but didn’t. Playing fair is so passe.

Namefield

I know you get wild praise all the time, but I just wanted to add another thank you to it all. I’d vaguely heard of the Elder Scrolls by name and remember passing the boxes up as a kid in favour of some simple point and click adventure games. I’d never really given it a second thought until I stumbled upon this comic. The world seemed fascinating so I gave the games a go and I’m completely enthralled. I’m in love with this world, lore, and these characters. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the introduction to a fascinating franchise I’d likely never have discovered on my own.

I actually dug up my seven month old Disqus account just to comment on this site, but I love the web comic!

I’ve been reading it for the past few days and have finally made it to the latest update, so I put this in my RSS feeds. I can’t say this enough, but this is awesome. Definitely had plenty of good laughs scrolling through these pages. Looking forward to sticking around.

Now that I think about it, I never even remembered registering a Disqus account back then in the first place till I saw my last comment. meh, trivial stuff that I wouldn’t have kept up with…

I reached the latest in a couple of hours. Today.
I’m a fast reader, and I just so happen to love this comic.
I really relate to Katia, to a scary degree.
I’m looking forward to giving her suggestions. (that don’t involve booze)